Visiting Santa Claus...or not.

On Saturday Wes and I took Anderson to the mall, so he could sit on Santa's lap. However, once we got to the mall, we learned that you aren't allowed to take personal pictures and the cheapest picture package they have is $30. We decided against. I'm not sure if it cost money everywhere now to see Santa, but I plan on taking Anderson & Mason to visit Santa while we are in KC. If we must spend money, that is when we will do it. (However, I think that is a total rip!)

After our Santa failure, we took Anderson to the park to swing. The park is one of Anderson's favorite places on earth. He gets to swing, go down the slide, and people watch. This kid loves to people watch. I have a feeling once he gets a little older, our favorite playground will be the one in the mall. This was Wes' first time going to the park with us. It is always nice when we get to do things together as a family.

7 Months

I can't believe Anderson is 7 months. The time goes by too fast. Anderson has accomplished a lot since I posted last. He is now crawling all over the place, able to pull himself up and is walking around the coffee table. I am not ready for Anderson to begin walking, I want him to stay a baby for a little while longer. However, Anderson has other plans. He is very determined to learn how to walk. Unfortunately, walking isn't easy and involves a lot of falling. The day isn't complete unless Anderson has hit his head on something. At first I felt like the worst mom ever - I watch my son, but it is hard to be right next to him at all times. However, after speaking to some other moms, they reassured me that bumps and bruises are the price that comes along with learning how to walk. It made me feel better, but it still breaks my heart when he gets hurt.

Some other things going on in the world of Anderson:

1. He loves table food. He prefers it over baby food, - who wouldn't? I made spicy sausage and bell pepper pasta last week and he loved it. I was a little shocked, because umm....it is spicy.

2. Him and Duke are becoming best buds. Duke is learning that Anderson is a great source of extra food. (Anderson often drops or throws his food on the floor.) If Anderson is in his high chair, Duke is right below it. The best way to Duke's heart is with food. You can now find Duke snuggling up to Anderson or nudging him with his nose, because he wants to play. Daisy likes Anderson, but she is still a little weary. She doesn't quite see the appeal yet and I think she is a little envious of the attention he gets.

3. Bath time is his favorite time of the day! It doesn't matter how fussy he is, the bath always brings a smile to his face. He loves playing with his bath toys and splashing. The only thing he doesn't like is bubble baths. He can't see his toys through the bubbles and that makes him mad.

4. He loves bouncing. Every since my mom introduced Anderson to jumping on the bed in Chicago, he is addicted to bouncing. He wants to bounce everywhere. Hey, I guess he is building those legs muscles.

Some days are still hard, and Wes can't get home soon enough, but overall, we are having lots of fun. I will leave you with some unseen pictures.

The kid is all over the place. I'm not sure how our monthly pictures are going to work, because he won't sit still. Hmm...it may be a lost cause.

Halloween Bash

Yesterday Anderson had his 1st party EVER! It was a Halloween Bash at the Harris house. I met Julia Harris through JMG, she is an amazing mom to 4 beautiful girls Charlotte, Suzanna, Ellie and Katie. Julia knows how to throw a great party. There was a halloween arts and crafts station, bouncy house, pinata, freeze dance, potato sack race and lots of delicious food!

Luckily, the weather was perfect - low 70's and overcast with a slight breeze. I must say, I had been worried about how hot it was going to be for halloween, because Anderson's skeleton outfit is made out of fleece. (Yeah, I didn't read the description on Amazon. Lesson learned.) Anyway, it worked out perfect.

Anderson had a blast at the party. He watched the older kids dance and play in the bouncy house, he enjoyed some chili and he made a new friend, Katie. Katie is Julia's youngest daughter, she is 3 weeks younger than Anderson. They really took an interest in one another. We'll have to try to get them together more often.

Yeah I'm not sure if Anderson was trying to give Katie kisses or eat her, we'll go with kisses. However, he was so excited he ended up knocking her backwards. It didn't seem to bother Katie though, she is such a relaxed, easy going baby.

Pumpkin Patch

This past Wednesday I took Anderson to the Trinity United Methodist Church's pumpkin patch. They had a great selection of pumpkins and lots of spots for photos. However, I would say Anderson's favorite part of the pumpkin patch was watching the older kids play tag. You will notice in some of the pictures Anderson is looking off to the side. I can't complete with giggling kids weaving in and out of the pumpkin patch. I can't wait until Anderson is old enough to join in.

Anderson 5 Months

I can't believe my baby is getting so big!  These past few months with Anderson in my life has been amazing.  He is showing me how selfish I was before he was born, teaching me to be more direct about what I want, and makes me laugh so hard every single day.  It is crazy to think he was born this helpless human being and now he is able to sit up, talk, smile, laugh and is on the verge of crawling. There are not enough words to describe how much I love this little man who has stolen my heart.

 

Anderson 1 day old

 

 

Anderson 5 1/2 months old

Girls Night Out!

Tonight I left Anderson with Wes to go see the most anticipated movie of the summer, Magic Mike. Ladies, I must say, this movie is a must see! However, I wish there was more dancing and less talking. ;)

Here is a picture from my favorite part of the movie:

Matthew McConaughey (Just look at that outfit! Only Matthew McConaughey can pull those shorts off, boys.) is teaching Alex Pettyfer how to shake it.  Which by the way, Alex Pettyfer is rumored to be the front man to play Christian Grey in the upcoming movie 50 Shades of Grey. Even though I asked myself multiple times, why am I reading this book? - it is poorly written and pretty predictable, but you just can't put it down - I, more than likely, will go see the movie.  

It was nice to have a night out with the girls and get out of the house for a little while.

Anderson is here!!!

Well wouldn't you know, shortly after I wrote a post about not being in physical pain I started to have contractions. Unfortunately, it wasn't the real deal yet, but they seriously hurt - like I could barely stand pain. Wes came home from the hospital, because he was sure this was it. However, he told me to take some Tylenol to help with the pain, and 30 minutes later the contractions were gone.

Wednesday morning, I woke up around 3:30am with timeable cramps. They weren't too painful, but they were coming every 5-7 minutes and lasting around 15-20 seconds. I called Labor & Delivery at 5am to see if I should come in or labor at home some more (Wes was leaving at 5:30, so I didn't know if I should catch a ride with him.) The nurse I spoke with told me my contracts should last a minute before I come to the hospital. I told Wes I would wait it out, I have a doctor's appointment at 9:20am and we'll go from there. Luckily, my mother-in-law was here, because at 6:30am my contractions were coming every 4-5 minutes and lasting 45 seconds. I decided it was time to go to the hospital. (I wasn't going to get stuck in rush hour traffic!)

My first internal exam was at 8am and I was 3cm dilated, fully effaced and my cervix had finally moved anterior. They told us we were going to have a baby today and moved me into a private room! I got an epidural at 9:30am, and, boy, was I happy I did! While the anesthesiologist was putting in the epi, my contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes and were extremely painful. My epidural was perfect - I could feel when I was having a contraction, but I couldn't feel the pain. The epidural was a lifesaver, because it allowed me to take a nap. I was exhausted since I woke up at 3:30am and was running on only 3 hours of sleep.

At 1pm, a midwife came in and did my second internal exam. She told me I was 9.5 cm dilated and went ahead and broke my water. When she broke my water, she noticed that there was meconium present. They explained to me how this would affect Anderson. The ideal scenario is for him to be born and not cry. If he doesn't cry that means he hasn't inhaled any of the meconium and they can suction it out real fast. This also meant that I wouldn't get to see Anderson until the Peds doctor was done examining him. Of course, my baby's health comes first, but it was a tough pill to swallow. Moving on...Wes and I were both shocked, we couldn't believe I dilated from 3cm to 9.5cm so fast. (We both thought I was going to need Pitocin.) The baby's head was in the 2 position, they like it to be in the 3 position before you start to push, so they had me "labor down." Laboring down is where they put you in a vertical position - I guess they hope gravity will help the baby move down the canal. However, this really didn't help me much. I labored down for 2 hours and nothing really changed.

The doctor checked me at 3:30ish, I was still only 9.5cm dilated, but she said it was time to push. The nurse got the room ready and at 4pm I began pushing. Pushing wasn't bad at all! Of course, this is thanks to the wonderful epidural I got. I loved that I could feel when I was having a contraction and knew when to push. I ended up pushing for 2 hours, which took a lot a energy and patience, but I was determined. At 6:07pm Anderson Frederick Frevert was born a healthy baby boy. He did cry shortly after being born, but he scored 8 & 9 on the Apgar test.

Being a mom is amazing. It definitely is a life changer, one that will take some adjusting, but I love everything about Anderson and feel so fortunate to be his mommy.